BURLINGTON – The DCF social worker who visited Peighton Geraw but failed to notice that he might have been dead followed state policy and won’t be charged criminally, Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan said Thursday.
Following the April 4 death of 14-month-old Peighton Geraw, state police investigated whether Department for Children and Families social worker John Salter committed a crime in handling Peighton’s case.
Salter visited Peighton’s home the day he died, two days after Fletcher Allen Health Care noticed bruises on the boy’s neck. Salter saw Peighton lying in his crib but did not touch him. Five minutes after Salter left, Peighton’s mother, Nytosha Laforce, called 911 to report that the boy wasn’t breathing. Doctors pronounced him dead hours later.
Laforce is charged with Peighton’s murder and has pleaded not guilty.
State police investigated whether DCF workers who handled Peighton’s case could be criminally charged for neglect of duty. The investigation follows a probe detectives conducted after the February death of Poultney 2-year-old Dezirae Sheldon. The Vermont Attorney General cleared DCF officials of a possible criminal neglect of duty charge.
“John Salter performed his duties. He did everything that he was trained to do, he did everything that he was supposed to do, he followed those protocols that DCF has,” Donovan said Thursday at a news conference at his office in the Burlington courthouse.
During the course of the investigation, police could not determine whether Peighton was alive when Salter saw him in his crib, Donovan said.
DCF policy does not require a social worker to physically touch a child to determine wellness, Donovan said.
“We can disagree whether or not this is the right protocol or the wrong protocol, but the fact of the matter is that’s the protocol,” Donovan said.
Donovan suggested that DCF policies might need to be changed, perhaps to require a hands-on examination to check for “alertness.”
The state police report, written by Detective Lt. James Cruise, is a 27-page document that outlines interviews with two DCF workers, two family members and one worker from the Department of Corrections. Portions of the report, which includes names and findings by Cruise, are redacted.
DCF and state officials took “all reasonable actions” throughout the course of the case from May 2013 through April 4, 2014, the day Peighton died, Cruise wrote.
Cruise reviewed Peighton’s DCF case file, medical reports, court transcripts and the DCF policy about responding to calls for abuse and neglect.
The facts DCF had on file could not have led state officials to predict the events leading to Peighton’s death, the report says.
Police also cleared Fletcher Allen of any wrongdoing. A doctor at the hospital reported seeing bruises on both sides of Peighton’s neck when Laforce and her boyfriend, Tyler Chicoine, brought him in on April 2 after he vomited and stopped walking.
Family members who were interviewed for the report questioned why the hospital released Peighton when doctors saw the bruises.
By DCF’s definition, the bruises did not constitute “documented physical abuse.” Social workers had 72 hours to respond to the abuse report.
DCF contacted Laforce within 24 hours and visited within 48 hours. Salter saw Peighton in dim light lying in a crib and watched Laforce move his neck. Salter later told police he could not say for certain that the child was alive at that point.
Peighton was born Jan. 10, 2013, premature and addicted to methadone, the report says. He was originally taken into custody by New Hampshire’s DCF after Laforce was arrested there May 29, 2013.
He was placed with his grandmother before DCF returned him to Laforce’s custody on July 22, 2013, at the Lund Family Center, a residential treatment program. Laforce eventually excelled in parenting courses but said they were “cookie-cutter” and not helpful.
Laforce’s progress at Lund led DCF to close the case, although social workers checked on her for two more months, through January 2014, when Laforce was still at Lund, the report said.
Salter is a “veteran” social worker, according to Cindy Walcott, deputy commissioner of DCF. Walcott defended Salter who was hired in 1989, according to state records.
“I know John to be a dedicated professional, and I know this has been agonizing for him to think about in retrospect,” Walcott said.
Walcott said she is gratified to have a positive outcome for the investigation but agrees DCF should make sure its policies are the best.
“With the rise in the use of opiates we’re in somewhat uncharted territory,” she said.
